Gravity feed dispensers are known in the art, such as WO2005/034702 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,949 B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,544 B1. They are classified as gravity feed dispensers as they are designed so that, in use, the sheet products are delivered to the dispensing opening by force of gravity. This is distinct from other types of dispenser in which the sheet products are fed to the dispensing opening under the influence of a spring mechanism.
In WO 2005/034702 A1, a gravity feed napkin dispenser is disclosed comprising a main body portion supported on a stand. A cover closes a front of the main body portion and is openable to permit reloading of a stack of napkins in the main body portion. A first face plate is disclosed that has a dispensing opening designed for one at a time napkin dispensing. The dispensing opening of the first face plate is positioned to expose a bottom face of the stack of napkins. A user grasps a leading edge of the napkins through the dispensing opening in the stack for one at a time dispensing. A second face plate is also disclosed that exposes a front face of the stack of napkins so that one or more folds of the interfolded stack can be grasped in order to dispense two or more napkins at a time.
The second face plate is particularly useful in fast food restaurants having a drive-through window. An employee bags a customer's food order and adds one or more napkins to the bag. The appropriate number of napkins depends on the size of the order. The second face plate provides a dispensing opening that allows a user to count the folds of the napkins and take the appropriate number for bagging.
It has been found that employees may, particularly during busy periods, be tempted to grasp and bag more napkins than needed, which will increase an outlet's overheads. This is especially so because it is difficult to count the number of folds being grasped. The first face plate would offer a solution to the problem of taking too many napkins at a time by limiting the employees to one at a time dispensing, but this would slow down napkin dispensing, thus slowing throughput at the drive-through window.
It is one object of the present invention to provide greater restriction on the number of napkins per pull that are removed from the dispenser, while still allowing more than one at a time dispensing. It is a further objection of the present invention to enhance a user's ability to count the appropriate number of napkins for dispensing.